Protest held after teacher suspended over violent clash with student

The teachers of Majeedhiyya School held a protest on Tuesday morning to show support for a suspended teacher.

On Sunday, a physical clash took place between a student and a teacher which resulted in the Ministry of Education suspending the teacher. The ministry had sent a notice to the teacher, ordering him to not come to work until further instructions. The Indian national, who teaches Mathematics, is accused of grabbing the student by his throat.

According to another teacher who had witnessed the incident, the student had walked into the teacher’s class while he was teaching without permission and created disruptions. The teacher had tried to make the student leave, which led to the student attacking the teacher, according to onlookers. While acting in self-defense, the teacher had struck the student and other teachers had broken up the fight.

Other teachers present said that the student had attempted to attack the teacher with a stick, threatening that he would kill the teacher. Witness said that the student had chased after the teacher and even damaged the doors of some rooms.

Ths student in question has previous records of threatening a teacher and the school counselor, and had attacked a school security guard as well. So far, no action has been taken against the student regarding this.

After the teacher's suspension, all of the local teachers of the school went on a temporary strike early Tuesday and demanded the ministry to meet them and hear out their concerns. The teachers were protesting and stating that if their concerns were not resolved, they would not resume teaching.

Education Ministry’s permanent secretary Mohamed Saeed and senior policy executive Shereena Abdul Samad visited the school in order to resolve the issues. It was not clear if the officials from the ministry met with the senior members of the school or the teachers. However, after the meetings, Saeed told Mihaaru that they are investigating the case and that teachers have resumed teaching.

It is not known if any action was taken against the student or what steps were taken by the ministry to resolve the issue.